The IEC says the remaining ballots were printed on Sunday.
Elections 2026
A voting station is seen at the Berario Recreation Centre in Randburg. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen
The effects of the Constitutional Court ruling in a matter between the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) and the ANC are already being felt on the first day of special votes.
This comes after some voting stations in Cape Town were unable to open on time because of delays in the delivery of ballot papers.
In a media briefing on Monday, IEC’s deputy Chief Electoral Officer, Masego Shiburi, confirmed that the delays in the opening of the stations are a direct result of the court ruling.
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View MapHe said the original plan was to have all ballots in storage facilities by 21 October 2026.
“We know now that on the 15th of October, the Constitutional Court handed down an order admitting certain candidates in six municipalities.
“The Commission took a decision that there is no justifiable way that the elections could be perceived to be free and fair if it only included the candidates in respect of the six municipalities.
“The Commission, in the interest of free and fair elections, administered or admitted other parties and their candidates; there were in total 32 other such parties.
“What that meant is that 28 million of the ballots already printed and delivered were no longer fit for this election because they did not contain all the parties that were contesting,” he said.
Why is Cape Town affected?
Shiburi said it is in this context that there was a delay in the delivery of ballot papers at some stations.
“The commission authorised the re-printing of ballots, so we had to re-print in total 33 million ballots. So, the City of Cape Town ballots are those that were in the final run of the printing process,” he said.
Current status of printing ballots
Shiburi said the printing process concluded on Sunday.
“What we are struggling with is the packaging of those ballots so that they contain all the security features that must be on the ballot, that they are numbered appropriately, that they are stitched into books of 100 booklets.
“However, as we speak, we can confirm that all the remaining ballots in respect of the City of Cape Town are already in our decentralised storage facilities and we are increasingly distributing them to the voting stations,” he said.
He said the commission will update the nation on the opening of the affected voting stations in the City of Cape Town.
